What a tsunami for IBM. Not only has Brexit dragged the stock down badly, just in time for it to take it's usual quarterly beating when the 2Q results are announced in a few weeks, but now key employees are defecting to competitors in droves. Every day since last week I've become aware of another critical person leaving a high level technical position. I asked a few and they said it was because of the stress of the impending massive reorg this week and associated RA. They are sick of being treated like this and the stress on themselves and their families, and working for a company they have grown to despise. I guess people are finally standing up for themselves and leaving on their own terms. Now they are going to competitors as highly motivated to beat IBM in some upcoming big sales deals, a double whammy. I guarantee you these are not people IBM wanted to lose. This is what happens when you treat your employees like disposable garbage.
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I can't for the life of me understand why customers continue to buy from IBM. Their support and products are pure trash. They got there by not only cutting to the bone but by amputating limbs and even vital organs to lose weight.
This is what you get when a sales, marketing, or finance person runs an engineering firm. If I were a potential or existing customer, I would avoid IBM at all costs. It's too much of a risk to go with them.
And one product they are really trying to push is this thing built for Jeopardy named Watson. What a hunk of garbage. Surprised they can even give that monstrosity away. There are much better products in open source.
IBM is dead dead dead. The leadership has killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.
I'm one of those who falls into that category of standing up for themselves and leaving on their own terms. And yes, it has gotten to the point, where the leadership treats their people like disposable garbage. Couldn't have said it better myself. It is the customers who will suffer, as productivity drops through the floor, with low morale and people jumping ship. Product features will be slower to come out, and support will weaken, due to good people leaving, and remaining people not only having low morale, but also being spread too thin. It's an excellent example of a death spiral, and it is going to be fascinating to watch now from the outside to see how this plays out. What will the financials look like in the coming quarters, relative to the last? Will things be shaken up at the top? Will any of the initiatives they are attempting actually pan out? Where is the bottom? Will there be a buyout? I just hope the best for the friends that I've left behind there.
It's because they really don't know what they are doing. The company is led by sales, marketing, and accountants. There is nobody left in a leadership role that has a strong technical vision or acumen. They spend all of their time making up misleading press releases (self-driving car anyone? NOT!) to make it look like they are doing all kinds of cool things with Watson, working on new ways to manipulate the books (I'm sure they are working right now on some way to make the disastrous 2Q look good), inventive ways to jettison employees (RA, must-relocate, downgraded ratings, etc) and none of their time working on exciting new technical products (or fixing the existing products that are riddled with bugs). The only way to save the ship, if it can be saved at all, is to clean house at the top immediately after the 2Q disaster is disclosed in a few weeks. Put someone smart and technical back in charge, like Microsoft and others did. And do SOMETHING to try to re-motivate the employees, the vast majority of which are seriously hating on the company and it's leadership.
This upcoming massive reorg has been dragged out for obnoxiously long, basically since the beginning of the year. We have no idea what's coming around the corner. No idea what our platform is, what our product is, what our infrastructure is going to be. It's almost as if they don't know what they're doing!